travel diary 15th of March (corrections welcome) Because we wanted to sleep in, we left the apartment at lunchtime to go to the subway. We left the subway at Vienna’s main train station and had to walk till we reached the Schloss Belvedere. There are two of them, one is called Lower Belvedere and Upper Belvedere, whereas we went to the Upper Belvedere. Around the castle is a huge area with fountains and sculptures. Right in front of the Belvedere were all the sculptures from the Chinese zodiac. We walked around the castle to find ticketsales and then we found an annex of the castle, where they sell them. Inside of the castle is an exhibition of art of the Belvedere collection from the medieval to the past. Highlight of the exhibition is the Kiss by Gustav Klimt. Then we left the Belvedere and rode the subway to the Naschmarkt. A huge market with various things. We tried some Mohnzelten, were allowed to try special almonds and bought some. Then we were in a hurry, because we wanted to be at the apartment at 5pm. In the apartment we dressed up for our special highlight, Tristan and Isolde in the Wiener Staatsoper. It was another walk from the apartment to the subway. That was especially hard for Tina, who wore high heels. Then we entered the opera, which is one of the world’s most famous opera houses. The premiere was there on the 25th of May 1869. We had some problems finding our seats, but we made it in time. A few minutes later and we would not be allowed to have a seat at our places. The actors were so amazing because they spoke the whole text word literally, how it appeared on my screen. The whole performance lasts five hours with two breaks in between. After the second break, Tina cheered the conductor of the orchestra and earned a shocked view from the lady next to her. After the opera we were so hungry that we were looking for something to eat. Unfortunately all the restaurants were already closed or were going to close soon. For that reason we had dinner at McDonalds.